Balanar
Balanar, '''real name '''Kinch Dedalus, who temporarily went by the handle '''Night Stalker, '''is a Greek-born ex-shadowrunner. After being betrayed by his fellow runners, tied up, and thrown into the coast of the Osaka Prefecture, he underwent a sudden magical awakening and became an adept of the Moon Maiden. Shortly afterwards he was thrown into the high-security prison Meifumado, and at some point thereafter, was infected with HMHVV and became a Nosferatu. Balanar wanted revenge against his previous running party and dreamed of a world where runners would only take the jobs they wanted to take. He tethered his own insecurities and vindication to the the goals of the Akuma Yobidashi, and to the exiled Fomori Cabalistica, who indirectly told Balanar about the Veil of Tír na nÓg. After Meifumado was destroyed and the prisoners freed by Filipino revolutionaries, Balanar journeyed to Tír na nÓg and terrorized the nation for two years. Balanar's activities caused Tír na nÓg to declare a state of emergency and provided an opportunity for the Ares Corporation, who had very poor relations with the nation but could potentially take out the Nosferatu with the help of the runners and Transys Neuronet. This bargain led to the events of Part 2. Personality & Beliefs Before he became a Nosferatu, Balanar was very direct and anti-social. He ran the shadows primarily for self-appeasement, a philosophy that he probably learned from Kham the Ork. He was noted by Packrie as being a particularly useless runner. He did not know how to fire a gun, he was awful at social encounters, he did not (at that point) use magic, and his sensitive essence meant he could not use cyberware. This did not seem to phase Balanar as he continued wishing for a life of high crime. It is unclear how much of his miserable attitude came from his stay at Meifumado and how much was a direct result of becoming a Nosferatu. According to the GM, Balanar was "probably schizoaffective" even before his personal turmoil, but to what degree is uncertain. Balanar stated that his objective pertaining to "deadening" Lorenzo's positive emotions with sim-sense technology was to make Lorenzo feel the same way that he (Balanar) did. Balanar was critical of "modern shadowrunning", "the old guard" (of shadowrunning), corporations, government, and every-day citizens. He believed that the megacorporations had suffocated humanity so much that the only way that shadowrunning could survive was to fully accept that shadowrunning as a business. He advocated unionizing shadowrunning and increasing it's relevance in the public space so that runners could act as a joint community and pull together whenever an employer does something grievous and wrong. He was generally disdainful of Tír na nÓg, but most of his hatred there stemmed from the memories of his old group and not from any sort of personal vendetta. Balanar took an interest in Lorenzo, believing him to resemble a true-to-life Kham the Ork. This prevented him from making an attempt on his life, as Balanar believed that Lorenzo would eventually see his way of thinking. On the other hand, he seemed to strongly dislike Wark, who he thought mindlessly took sides with whoever paid him--which happened to be Packrie Mackrie. He had much less vibrant encounters with Launch and Bunny, and seemed not to care about either of them, but he expressed mild sympathies for Launch and an appreciation for the "parade of coincidence" that led to Bunny nearly dying with her drugged half-sister. Early Life Kinch Dedalus was born in the Greek city of Kalamata in 2035, shortly before the Second Euro War. During the war, Kinch's father fought with the Hellenic Army against the Arab invaders. His father supposedly survived through the battles on the Peloponnese region, but disappeared shortly afterwards and never returned. His father left his rifle with Kinch, along with his bayonets, which became Balanar's signature weapons. Kinch was apparently interested in shadowrunning from an early age. He likely picked up the idea from runner-based trideo shows, such as Kham the Ork, which he spent a lot of time watching. Kinch also spent a lot of time on the Matrix (as "Night Stalker") and was banned from the biggest running forum, Shadowland. After he was banned he started his own blog, which had very few regulars or even visitors. A retired runner, Packrie Mackrie, did, however, eventually find the blog and PMed Kinch. Packrie Mackrie and Kinch discussed the affairs of shadowrunning and how the business of running is changing. After this brief initial conversation they became (somewhat impersonal) friends. About two and a half months later, in the fall of 2054, Packrie mentioned that he was contacted by an employer for a high-profile job. However, as Packrie was retired and Kinch was too young and experienced, Packrie did not initially take the job. Kinch scrutinized Packrie for this and insisted that he would have to learn at some point. Kinch insisted that Packrie take the job. Packrie eventually relented and took the job, with the two of them joining forces with their employer Tsangara, and an intermediary, Draskyl. The run was intended to be a smear campaign against Shiawase, which led the four criminals to Osaka, Japan. Because the job was intended to botch stocks in Shiawase's affiliates, much of the job came down to social engineering and decking. The group largely did not need a "muscle", which Kinch signed up as. During one particular incident a museum heist had been scoped out and found to have much more capable than normal physical security procedures, so the group brought Kinch along and told him to take care of the guards. Kinch killed the guards, but he was too slow on the draw and one of the guards sounded a museum-wide alert. When employees started running, Kinch started slashing down everyone he could see, including the janitorial staff. By the end of the night Kinch had killed so many employees that the Japanese Imperial Guard surrounded the facility and left the runners with almost no escape. Tsangara was forced to use his exceptional magical ability to blow a hole in the basement so that the group could escape through the sewers. After the group escaped to Tsangara's motor home, the group waited till Kinch was asleep, tied up his limbs with rope and taped his mouth shut. They threw him in the river, attempting to murder him and shift media coverage from the night at the museum to the main perpetrator (Kinch). However, "under the light of the moon", Kinch underwent a magical awakening and became an adept. This strengthened his lungs and prevented him from drowning. Shortly afterward, a fisherman found him struggling by the shore and handed Kinch in to the authorities. Shiawase, acting in agreement with the government of Japan, convincted Kinch of his crimes deported him to a high security prison on Yomi Island, located in Albay Province in the Philippines. Prior to the Campaign Kinch, who at some point took the name Balanar, (presumably to indicate himself to Packrie, who suggested the name when they were cordial) spent seven and a half years in Meifumado prison. Very little is known about this period--only that the guards forced the prisoners to fight for their amusement, and that the Akuma Yobidashi emerged as the most powerful prison gang there. In 2062 Filipino revolutionaries stormed Meifumado and freed all the prisoners, including Balanar, Charmy, Vector, and Mighty. It is not known how Balanar was infected with HMHVV. However, it is sometimes said that Yomi Island had issues controlling the disease. Vector also suffered from HMHVV, although in a different form. Shortly after their release, Balanar, Charmy, Vector and Mighty contacted Cabalistica, who was an old contact of Charmy's. Cabalistica told Charmy how Liam O'Connor betrayed her years ago, and how the Veil that surrounds Tír na nÓg was formed by traces of essence bound by blood magic. Not knowing that Balanar intended to go to Tír na nÓg and decimate the nation, Cabalistica gave Charmy a charm that would safeguard a dual-natured entity from the Veil, which Charmy gave to Balanar. The group somehow traveled to Tír na nÓg shortly afterwards. Before their departure, they somehow rendezvoused with Vladimir, another contact of the Akuma Yobidashi. Balanar and the Akuma Yobidashi were at first somewhat sophomoric at hiding their intentions. Because Balanar left behind a potent astral signature, the authorities in Tír na nÓg were almost immediately suspicious of a resurface of the infected. Balanar had to join forces with the Knights of the Red Branch in order to cover up his identity, making particularly good friends with Banesmith and Malik in Belfast; vampires who had closely aligned goals. There were several close calls, as the TRC kept getting closer and closer, the TRC and the Knights of the Red Branch eventually collided in the metro system of Leitrim Country. Martin Harlech chased Balanar as he ran, and appeared to gain the upperhand, but Martin relented to use his Hand of Glory out of fear, which allowed Balanar to escape. After the encounter in the Leitrim Metro, those who had faith in Balanar lessened and the Knights of the Red Branch split up into splinter groups. Balanar asked his Mentor Spirit, the Moon Maiden, for help, and found council with the Unseelie Court in the forests of Connacht, who also took guidance from the Moon. The Unseelie Court granted him an artifact of the Fomori, the Moon Crest, and told him that the pixies of wooded Roscommon had the power to shield astral signatures. Balanar went to the court of the pixies in Roscommon and grabbed their queen, in addition to wounding and kidnapping their then-guardian, Bunny's Mother. At some point, Vladimir grafted the pixie queen under Balanar's skin, which made his astral signature untraceable. Vladimir discussed the unlikelihood of Liam O'Connor finding as many sacrifices as he would have needed to forge the Veil. The two did research on Liam O'Connor and eventually deduced that the blood of first-born elven placenta would have metahuman essence, and thus qualify as an organ for sacrificial blood magic. While considering what to do about their shortage of "canon fodder", Balanar and Vladimir decided to socially engineer a network of rape within criminal circles of Tír na nÓg. Their babies would be drugged with Balanar's essence, which would turn them into pawns, and their placentas would be used in the coming sacrifice for the reforging of the Veil.